Here’s my situation: my school doesn’t offer any AP course, but is a very prestigious private school. I take the two accelerated courses offered, and am doing pretty well overall (almost 100 average). However, our school offers the AP EXAMS, thus requiring self-studying. I want to self-study, but it is very tough due to the lack of resources and time. Do you think Harvard takes that into consideration, or would they penalize me for not seeking the opportunity? Has there been people who have gotten in to Harvard and Yale without taking APs
I’m sure there are loads of students at Yale and Harvard without APs. but if you are at a prestigious private school it is likely that many others from your school will apply to the same schools. If most have APs it will look normative to the colleges for students from your school to have them. They will wonder why you don’t. However, that does not mean you won’t get accepted without them. If you have a compelling reason not to have taken them-if you have other unique compensatory achievements, then the fact that you have chosen to allocate your time in a different but still productive way could actually help you. If the only reason you don’t have them is because you opted out without having other achievement to show for how you used your time, then not having them will probably work against you.
Your “very prestigious private school” has lots of high paying families. I’m sure you have quite the nice counselor staff. Why don’t ask them? That’s what your family’s tuition is going for – much better than random internet strangers’ guesses.
I’m im pretty much the exact situation as you. My school doesn’t offer any AP classes or tests, only honors classes. However, my school does not offer these classes because it believes that there is not a large benefit in taking them. Stanford actually did a study on AP classes and found that they were less advantageous than honors or advanced classes.
Getting back to your situation… My high school is very new (it was a middle school and just became a high school as well), and the first graduating class is graduating this year. That being said, my school had around a 20% acceptance rate to Harvard this year and around a 25% acceptance to Yale; also, none of the students that got in had ever taken any AP classes or tests. Although your school does offer AP tests, your counselor will rate your CLASS rigor from 1-10 considering how hard your classes are compared to all offered; therefore, whether you take AP tests or not will not affect the 1-10 score.
You could also talk to your classmates and see where they are applying early and whether or not they are taking any AP tests. My tip would be to apply early to the college that most of your colleagues (if they do have good AP scores) are not applying to. But, at the same time, make sure that your EA or ED school is one that you are passionate about.
In my case, I was going to apply to Brown ED, but a lot of other kids are (some who are legacy) which would lower my chances. Instead, I’m most likely going to apply to Harvard for SCEA because nobody else in my class is applying there early (plus I have legacy there and I love Cambridge).
So I wouldn’t worry too much about it. If you have a good GPA and high standardized test scores to match, I wouldn’t sweat it. Also, getting into an Ivy League school is a crapshoot. You may be totally qualified, but they just may not accept you just because of the lack of space. Although I am applying to a couple, I’m not betting on getting accepted to any; it’s not the end of the world if you don’t get in. There are tons of awesome colleges out there and if you don’t get into an Ivy, there are many others that I’m sure would be happy to accept a student with a nearly perfect GPA.
Message me if you have any questions about my school or anything.
My DSs got into multiple Ivys without APs, And I know at least six homeschoolers who got into Ivys without one AP or private school course or community college course. What you need to be is a strong, unique, interesting applicant. APs are not unique to the Ivys, nor are they really that interesting.
Our HS doesn’t offer APs (although many students do take AP exams) either and it has no impact on college admissions. What is important for tip tier colleges is that you take the most rigorous courseload offered by your HS.